Shapur I

Shapur I (215-272) was Emperor of the Sassanid Empire from 242 to 272, succeeding Ardashir I and preceding Hormizd I.

Biography
Shapur was the son of Ardashir I, and he served as co-regent with his father from 240 to 242 before succeeding his father as Emperor on his death in 242. He inherited a state of war with the Roman Empire, and in the winter of 244 the Roman emperor Gordian III was slain in battle with Shapur's Sassanid army. In 244, Philip the Arab agreed to peace with Shapur, and in 253 he annihilated a 60,000-strong Roman army at the Battle of Barbalissos. In 260, he won another great victory at the Battle of Edessa when he captured the Roman emperor Valerian, and Valerian was supposedly flayed alive. He used Roman prisoners to help in building up the infrastructure of the Sassanid Empire, and he died in 272.